Alpine

Alpine is based on pine, a text-based E-mail and newsclient that was originally released by the University of Washington in 1991. It is an easier to use alternative to mutt, a more lightweight approach to the mail reader concept.

Press E to exit config. From the main menu, navigate the collectionLists page by pressing (S then L) to configure folders. Press enter to edit the folders on mailserver.org, and optionally set a nickname. The Server line uses the same format as the SMTP Server line above, except that this is for retrieving rather than sending mail. The following example is for an IMAP server:

mailserver.org:143/user=jimbob123/tls

The Path and View fields can often be left blank.

Setting the return address

To set a return address, enter the config page and navigate to the "Customized Headers" field (either use the "Whereis" command to search, or page down a few pages to find this) and change the value to:

From: Jim Bob <jimbob123@mailserver.org>

Of course, replace Jim Bob with your name and put your proper e-mail address in the <>.

What else can you configure?

Almost anything, in particular you can specify which colors to use, (from the main menu press S for set up, then K for colors), a browser to open external links (this is in the "Config" setup that we've previously been modifying"), an alternate text editor to use, different folder views, etc.

Pressing W allows you to quickly search for options. Messages can be listed in localtime by enabling the option "Convert Dates to Localtime". Toggling options can be done using the enter key.

Printing from alpine

Printing from Alpine directly to lpr does not work with special characters like Germanic umlauts in the Mail to be printed. The a2ps program does help.
You can then edit ~/.pinerc:

Replace YOURPRINTER with the name of your printer. Note that these settings can also be applied in the setup UI of Alpine. See the manpage of a2ps for more configuration options.

Remote Configuration

From the setup page, press Z to enter RemoteConfigSetup. You will be prompted to upload your addressbook, signature, and configuration. In order to use the remote configuration on any computer, on the command line, enter:

See also

http://www.washington.edu/alpine/ - Official Alpine Page. This page includes links to unofficial Alpine pages that have some handy tutorials (arguably better than the one provided here), hit C to open the config menu.